The Hunter Guild
The Hunter Guild is a nonprofit organization of hunters who work together and independently to hunt down and slay werewolves. Established sometime after the birth of Christ, they have made it their goal to protect people from werewolves, but they are largely unknown to the general populace. The Guild goes to great efforts to maintain anonymity to avoid instilling fear regarding the existence of lycanthropes. Most of the Guild’s funding comes from donations. They receive funding from donations by members of many ranks, though high-ranking members often donate more. They also receive donations from external sources, most often from wealthy individuals who are aware of the Guild’s existence and what they do and donate to support their efforts. Sometimes these are people who were personally affected by lycanthropy in some way, such as losing a family member to it, while others have relatives who are in the Guild. The Guild works alongside the City of London’s police force on occasion, though not regularly, mostly during instances of high-profile hunts that become known to the general public. Due to the nature of a Guild hunt as a whole, with many practices between a hunt and police work overlapping, it is far more normal that hunters and officers do not get along. This is partially attributed to the beliefs of officers themselves, many of whom find hunters to be something close to “wannabe cops” or otherwise comparable to bounty hunters who don’t follow the same codes or morals. Generally speaking, being a police officer is about protecting the people, though naturally, this varies between person to person, and the beliefs of a hunter are not wholly different. As a result, when the two are put together, sometimes their morals clash, resulting in disagreements. Some officers hold a great amount of respect for hunters, and vice versa, while some hold a great amount of contempt, also vice versa. It is not uncommon for officers to find hunters to be no better than the beasts they hunt themselves, and because hunters are often paid for bringing down individuals werewolves, with the proof of a successful hunt being found in the form of a token, many officers believe that hunters are in it simply for the money. * Initiate * Novice * Journeyman * Specialist * Professional * Guildmaster Ranks are not necessarily linear, and the rank of apprentice and mentor aren’t mandatory. It isn’t required for an initiate, novice, or journeyman to become an apprentice to reach the next rank, nor does a specialist, professional, or Guildmaster need to become a mentor to rise or keep their rank, though this is encouraged. Sometimes promotions in rank can skip, though this is usually determined after a period of time and upon a proper discussion of a person’s skill by Guildmasters, usually with opinions from professionals and specialists themselves, and sometimes even people of lower ranks, although this is not as common. Examples of Guild members who have skipped ranks are the Carmona daughters, who were trained outside of Guild tutelage by their mother, Odelia Carmona, or Diego Rosas Ibarra, who was trained at a young age by his father, Cornelio Rosas. Just like promotion occurs, demotion can occur just the same. Being demoted usually is the result of poor behavior, such as harassment or violence towards fellow Guild members. A member isn’t required to be nice, but if their actions harm other members to high degrees, then demotion is sometimes the consequence of that. During far more serious instances, expulsion from the Guild can occur as well, such as if a Guild member assaults or murders another member. It cannot always be kept track of when these things occur outside of the Guild, but if such knowledge reaches Guildmasters, expulsion can still be a punishment. Another form of demotion comes from inactivity, the failure of producing the required amount of monthly tokens to maintain membership. This is done to prevent people from ceasing their work as a hunter to abuse the benefits of a higher rank. If a hunter does not produce the tokens they need to stay a member, they will be demoted to the rank below. This demotion will continue until they have reached initiate rank, where continued failure to produce the tokens will result in expulsion. The Guild will, at times, take some excuses into account, but overall they must maintain a sense of equality between members and not favor seniority. The only instance where the Guild is more forgiving for inactivity is during dry spells when the number of werewolves drops dramatically and finding werewolves proves to be extremely difficult for hunters of all ranks. No matter an individual’s rank within the Guild, they are always referred to as a hunter. Ranks provide better rewards for members, such as having access to equipment, weapons, and research that is considered classified and kept from lower ranks. All members are provided with mandatory equipment, including initiates, but the gear that members such as specialists or professionals can access is highly advanced and, at times, experimental. Access to this gear is not free, they must purchase it themselves with the money they make from hunts, but as a trade-off, the gear can help in the success of hunts. Access to research is free. Any research members produce on their own is not required by any agreement to be shared; a hunter who makes a scientific discovery does not need to share that discovery with the Guild, however, most tend to as it helps the Guild tremendously. Members do not pay to be a part of the Guild, but they are not paid a flat amount of money for being in it either. Instead, they are required to produce tokens to receive payment for their work. These tokens take the form of canines that are pulled from a lycanthropes’ jaws with a specially designed forceps that is provided to members by the Guild. Each canine is worth £5, with a full set topping off at £20; as a conversion due to inflation, in 1888, £5 would be roughly £644.50 in the year 2019, while £20 would be about £2,577.98. In USD conversion, £5 is $6.34 ($170.54 in 1888, USA) and £20 is $25.37 ($682.45 in 1888, USA). Guild members are required to produce a certain amount of tokens for their rank to stay that rank. - Initiate - 4 canines every month (one werewolf) - Novice - 8 canines every month (two werewolves) - Journeyman - 12 canines every month (three werewolves) - Specialist - 16 canines every month (four werewolves) - Professional - 20 canines every month (five werewolves) - Guildmaster - not required to produce canines as they are in charge of Guild branches. High ranking Guild members are required to produce more tokens because they are given access to more things than those of lower ranks, but members from lower ranks are allowed to produce as many tokens as they wish. For example, a specialist needs to produce at least 16 canines a month to keep their membership, which means they need to kill a total of four werewolves each month. They have the more advanced gear and experience for hunting a werewolf compared to a novice, so the hunt for them should not be as difficult. A novice is only required to produce 8 canines a month, which means they need to kill a total of two werewolves. The hunt will naturally be harder for them due to lack of experience and their gear not being as advanced, but the gear is not poorly made or unsuited for the hunt either; it is still designed to handle killing a werewolf. When both hunters turn their tokens in, they receive the same amount of money for each one, £5. However, while a specialist can simply stop producing tokens once they reach their mandatory 16 tokens, the novice can continue to produce more tokens for as long as they wish. If a novice were to collect their 8 tokens for the month, then produce 8 more, this is recorded by the Guild ledgers and noted by Guildmasters, who will discuss a promotion. If that same novice repeats this for the next month or even produces more tokens, Guildmasters likely will award the member with a promotion.